See Ya Later!

Guess what is over? Ross's three weeks of nights. WHEW. I do not like him not being here at night, nor do I like doing the whole supper, bedtime routine alone; but, I will say that this week was much better. I mentioned that I thought Amelia's stomach troubles were continuing due to some anxiety of Ross being on nights (and my overtly apparent bad attitude about it), so we did tons of fun things and I kept an upbeat attitude and lo and behold I even tricked myself into thinking it was just fine and fun :).

SO, we did some Christmas pictures.Made some snowman cookies.

Got all beautified for school.
Decorated yet another window with stick-ons.

And snuggled after bath.





Random sidenote: I love, love, love putting new pictures in a picture frame and getting the old ones out for a blast from the past. I always keep them under there and it just makes me so happy to look back at them. Anyone else do that?

Halsted Family Christmas

Ross's extended family had their Christmas gathering last week and Amelia was stuck to Aunt Jessalyn like glue.
It was a fun time and I stole a sweet gift at the last minute during the gift exchange. GO me. This year it was held at a campground in Branson with a nice, big room and we enjoyed it SO much more than when it was all the way in Marshall in just one room. I hope everyone else liked it and this will be the place for next year too.

Amelia had fun playing with her cousins. She refused to play much with her three year old cousin Cole, but definitely enjoyed playing with the six year old, ha. Big shot.

One hilarious thing was Amelia wanting to participate in the guesstimation jar contest. She looked very seriously at the jars of jellybeans and Tootsie Rolls and "wrote" her guesses of five and seven. It was precious.

Amelia got to run around outside for a little while at the playground to get out some energy. She had a blast despite the fact that it was coooold. Elise got to go outside too and she loved the blow-up decorations. Both girls did!



Hooray for our first Christmas celebration.

Walking and Talking

Okay, maybe doing a ton of talking. But, Elise is eleven months old and walking everywhere! It started out slowly but quickly escalated to walking all around and wanting no help. She has started trying to run a bit the last few days and that has not gone well. HA.

Elise Mae,

You are such a joy! I constantly say that your smile is contagious. It is literally the biggest smile I have ever seen. We just love you to pieces.
You simply LOVE to go outside. When we ask if you want to get the mail or go outside, you start kicking your legs like a wild, bucking bronco. Swinging is your favorite and you almost always fall asleep if we stay out long enough.And while this smile is precious, you can definitely hold your own. You are more fiesty at this age than your sister was, which makes me a little nervous, ha. You never really played with baby toys and have only wanted to play alongside Amelia the moment you could sit up. It is a joy to watch you two together. For instance, you were not phased when she beaned you with this ball and laughed hysterically.

It is pretty tough to keep you from doing things Amelia is doing, so I let your finger paint the other night. You did a great job and painted two pictures. Such a big girl already!
You can make quite a few animal sounds- moo, sss, whoo, quack, and a monkey sound. Most of the words you try to say all seem to start with d, but I know what you are trying to say. You "say," dad, dog, bye, hi, cat, baba, and ball.

Love you our sweet girl who still sleeps with Momma and Daddy and won't lay down alone for a teeny tiny second.

These Are The Days..

Life is so full right now. Busy and fun. Full of love. I honestly think to myself often, "There is no way it can get better than this. It just can't." Yes, yes there are dirty dishes and tons of laundry not done. The laundry that is done is piled on the couch. Yes, Amelia mouths off already. Yes, I still hold Elise while she sleeps. And, okay, yes, Ross works long hours. BUT STILL, I'm telling you, I have heart melting moments daily. Even hourly. How can it get better than...

This precious girl who is GIDDY about all Christmas decorations and has worked herself silly decorating five trees :)

Having your Daddy come to Open Gym when he's usually at work.

Meeting up with precious friends in town for the day.

Playing outside all bundled up. Fresh air is good for the soul.

Looking at drive through lights in our jammies.

It just doesn't. Nope, no way.

Yep, She Said It

Amelia is huh-lar-ee-us. I love this age. Here are some memorable moments of late.

A: Let's play a game. It will be the opposite game.
M: Okay.
A: What's the opposite of hot?
M: Cold
(this goes on with some similar examples)
A: Okay, this one is hard.
M: I'm ready.
A: What is the opposite of sign?
M: Like street sign?
A: Yes.
M: Well honey, there isn't an opposite for sign. Not everything has an opposite.
A: You poor thing. It's NO SIGN.


This was her bedtime prayer.

A: And thank you for my mom's really long and big nose.

Whaaaaaat?

In Orange Leaf a mom and her teenage daughter walked in. Amelia is JUST as nosy as her Gammy and wants to talk about everyone.

A: Why is her daughter so big?
M: Well, she will always be her daughter no matter how old she gets.
A: I bet she is FIVE!!
M: She is way older than that sweetie. You will be my daughter when you are three and ten and twenty.
A: And I will still be your daughter when I am FIVE and when I have a daughter in my belly.



Picking her up from school.

A: Umm I was wild in music today and got a time out.
M: Oh no, why?
A: I don't know.
M: I guess I will have to call the music teacher and find out.
A: She won't know either. Sometimes I am just wild.

(turns out her one and only time-out was from uncontrollable dancing...lol)

She's thoughtful, rambunctious, hilarious, beautiful, loving, motherly, intelligent, opinionated and I love her.

Overboard, Overboard

My family always buys presents well outside their means. We just love to buy presents for each other. We always chant, "overboard, overboard," at Christmas and giggle when we know someone just spent enough to be paying on that gift for six months.

That's how I feel when I look at my life. I feel like chanting, "OVERBOARD," upward to the heavens. I don't know why I have all these blessings. I don't know why I was chosen to have these two adorable children. I am not sure why the Lord created Ross to put up with me and love me. I have no earthly idea how I was born to the two most loving and generous parents that continue to parent me daily--into my thirties. In a world of brokenness, I do not get the precious wholeness and closeness of my family. I have no clue why I have a network of friends who are true and genuine and faithful prayer partners.

But, I do know this. These things are tangible evidence of God's existence, power, and love. Now, if they were taken away, he would still exist and would still have ultimate power and would still love unconditionally. However, it is up to me to make the most of all this love I have while I have it. And what a fabulous reminder our Thanksgiving celebration was.







This IS a picture of love, I promise. Amelia takes her sisterly duties very seriously and was trying her best to wrangle Elise in a loving way. But, Leeser is a beast that isn't easily tamed.


After we went back to Mom and Dads, DD relaxed with a hairstyle by a naked beautician. Perfect.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ross would have three, count 'em, three weeks of NIGHTS during this festive and wonderful time. Two weeks down and round three starting soon. I definitely felt that Satan was trying to get me down with two visits to the emergency room during one of those weeks. Yes, Amelia went to the ER twice with intense stomach pains that lasted up to an hour each time. I wanted to make sure to document it in case it ever happens again. She screamed in fear of going to the bathroom and doubled over on the ground rolling around trying to relieve the pain. This was a five day ordeal with an X-ray and two rounds of blood work and a very patient doctor.

We gave her a stool softener and some gas drops and it all seemed to work itself out thankfully. I spent many nights wide awake just waiting for another attack. Then, I wouldn't even feel tired the next morning on edge waiting for her to bend over in pain. Whew. Scary. Never knew what it would do to me as a mother to see my child hurting. No one can explain that to you. There was a very real time period when we thought she had appendicitis and I was trying to prepare myself for her having surgery, just in case. Shudder. Some of it might have had to do with worry. She made several comments about not liking her dad being on nights (because of my thoughtless comments about dreading nights, etc.) and would really act out during bedtime without him there. I am going to be nothing but positive about it next round.

Jessalyn and Greg, Mom, and Barbara all were a very big help during that scary week and I am so thankful we have family close enough to help. Barbara drove up at midnight one night!!

Dr. Hahn gave Amelia a bravery certificate after one very painful blood draw (three entire vials!) and the certificate was for Incredible Pizza. She was so excited to go and since Ross was on nights and got some sleep up at the hospital, a perk was that he got to meet us for lunch!

Here she is ballin'...


Ross NEVER wins anything out of the claw machine and he won TWO Christmas things. She was beyond excited. I actually jumped up and down, ha.

Elise Mae ate an entire piece of pizza and was so good the whole time we were there.


Such a fun time we had that day. It had been a hard week of very little sleep and a lot of prayer. So thankful for her energetic and healthy self :)